Every year during the Christmas break we look for a place to venture with warmer weather and some adventure. This year we decided to make the 1100 mile trek to Southern California to visit the harsh landscapes of Death Valley.
Near San Rafael Swell
The planning for our trip included meals for 6 days, extra fuel for extended drives through the remote reaches of Death Valley and lots of warm clothes. With temperatures expected to be in the 20s and 30s at night and the daytime highs to reach the low 60s, if we were lucky, this was going to be a cold trip.
I also removed the ARB rooftop tent from the trailer for this trip. The ARB tent is great for two people but for the three of us it was not going to be enough room. We instead brought along our Cabela’s heavy duty 4 season tent. For food I took advantage of the cold temperatures and pre-cooked and froze 3 dinners and stowed them and some other frozen food in a second cooler to be stowed in the trailer.
By loading the trailer Friday evening we were able to get an early start on Saturday following Christmas. It was a cold morning in Colorado Springs but nothing like we were to see in Utah.
Our goal for Saturday was to make Monroe, Utah and Mystic Hot Springs. Our initial intention was to camp at the hot springs but we found Utah to be in the deep freeze.
We made the Hot springs at about 3:00 pm and the temperature was hovering around 13 degrees with snow on the ground. Defiantly not camping weather. We chose instead to head back to Richfield and stay in a hotel after we took some time to soak.
Mystic Hot Springs has 2 large soaking pools and 3 bath tubs up on the hill to enjoy the hot water in. With the cold air temperature I found the water to be a little on the cool side but we still enjoyed the soak.
Back in the car it was off to the hotel for a good night’s sleep before the second leg of our trip into Death Valley.
Additional Death Valley Photos
Death Valley Day 1 Google KML File